1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 SAMUEL LOVE, Case No. 20-cv-08916-TSH

8 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SET 9 v. ASIDE DEFAULT

10 CARTWRIGHT HOTEL GROUP, LP, et Re: Dkt. No. 20 al., 11 Defendants. 12 13 Defendants Cartwright Hotel, Inc. and Cartwright Hotel Group, LP move to set aside the 14 entry of default against them pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(c). ECF No. 20. 15 Plaintiff Samuel Love filed a statement of non-opposition. ECF No. 24. The Court finds this 16 matter suitable for disposition without oral argument and VACATES the April 22, 2021 hearing. 17 See Civ. L.R. 7-1(b). 18 Rule 55(c) provides that a court may set aside an entry of default for good cause. “To 19 determine ‘good cause’, a court must consider three factors: (1) whether the party seeking to set 20 aside the default engaged in culpable conduct that led to the default; (2) whether it had no 21 meritorious defense; or (3) whether reopening the default judgment would prejudice the other 22 party.” United States v. Signed Pers. Check No. 730 of Yubran S. Mesle,

(9th 23 Cir. 2010) (simplified). “Crucially, however, judgment by default is a drastic step appropriate 24 only in extreme circumstances; a case should, whenever possible, be decided on the merits.” Id. 25 (simplified). 26 Here, Defendants state their failure to respond was “due to inadvertence stemming from 27 the recent death of Defendants’ registered agent for service of process.” Mot. at 2. A defendant’s 1 intentionally failed to answer.” Signed Pers. Check No. 730 of Yubran S. Mesle,

2 (citation and quotations omitted). As Defendants failure to respond was unintentional, the Court 3 finds they have not engaged in culpable conduct. See

(“[A] defendant’s conduct was culpable 4 || for purposes of the good cause factors where there is no explanation of the default inconsistent 5 with a devious, deliberate, willful, or bad faith failure to respond.”). 6 Further, Defendants have shown they have a meritorious defense to the complaint in that 7 || they contend they will be able to show that the Cartwright Hotel’s reservations website complies 8 with the ADA and the Department of Justice regulations. See

(‘All that is necessary to 9 satisfy the ‘meritorious defense’ requirement is to allege sufficient facts that, if true, would 10 || constitute a defense: the question whether the factual allegation is true is not to be determined by 11 the court when it decides the motion to set aside the default. Rather, that question would be the 12 subject of the later litigation.”’) (simplified). 13 Finally, to establish prejudice, setting aside default must result in greater harm than simply 14 || delaying resolution of the case. Jd. Here, default was only entered one month ago, and Plaintiff 3 15 has stated he does not oppose the motion to set aside default. a 16 In sum, the Court finds that all factors favor setting aside default and allowing the case to 3 17 || proceed on the merits. Accordingly, Defendants’ motion is GRANTED. The parties shall meet S 18 and confer and thereafter file a joint status report by April 7, 2021, regarding the General Order 56 19 deadlines in this case. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 22 || Dated: March 24, 2021 23 LU \ - joy □ THOMAS S. HIXSON 24 United States Magistrate Judge 25 26 27 28